Mineralogical clues point to the idea that the early Earth, starved of oxygen and submerged by a vast ocean, needed molecules from Mars to kick start life (Did Life Come to Earth From Mars?

Miro Svetlik's insight:

This is an interesting out-of-the-box idea. Though there is a need for better explanation how were basic compounds of life transferred from Mars to the Earth considering that Mars had an atmosphere. Well still worth of researching.

A study of people born with one hand suggests neuroscientists may have fundamentally misunderstood the way the brain is organised, a scientist has claimed.

Dr Tamar Makin, of University College London, said the new theory – if proved correct – would have “massive implications”, adding it was “mind-blowing” to think that scientists could have been mistaken for so long.

An international team of researchers from the UK, Israel, Canada and Switzerland used an MRI scanner to monitor the brains of people who were born with one hand as they performed everyday tasks like handling money or wrapping a present.

They found the area of the brain associated with the missing hand was active when they used different body parts, such as the arm, foot and mouth.

Importantly this happened when these other body parts were used to perform the same function as the second hand in people with both, the researchers reported in the journal Current Biology.

This suggests that the brain is not organised so that each area is responsible for an individual body part, but that different areas are responsible for different functions.

Dr Makin said: “If true, this means we’ve been misinterpreting brain organisation based on body part, rather than based on function.

“It’s kind of mind blowing for me to think we could have been getting this wrong for so long.

Laser sintering is an exciting technology and provides reliable 3D metal structures. Unfortunately this technology is also complex and expensive. I hope we can provide novel way to print metal objects.

Aerogels are among the world’s lightest materials. Graphene aerogel, a record holder in that category, is so light that a large block of it wouldn’t make a dent on a tiny ball of cotton. Water is about one thousand times more dense. The minimal density of aerogels allows for a number of possible applications, researchers have found, ranging from soaking up oil spills to “invisibility” cloaks.

Now, scientists from State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and Kansas State University report in the journal Small that they have found a way to 3D print graphene aerogel, which has only been used in lab prototypes. This technology will make the material much easier to use, and open it, and hopefully other aerogel materials, up to wider applications.

Graphene is just a single layer of carbon atoms. Since it was isolated for the first time in 2004, it has been touted as a wonder material for its strength, pliability and conductivity. Aerogel is essentially a gel where the liquid is replaced by air. Graphene aerogel is known to be highly compressible (so it can bear pressure without breaking apart) and highly conductive (so it can carry electricity efficiently). The very structure of the material that gives it these properties, however, makes it difficult to manufacture using 3D printing technology.

SUNY Buffalo and Kansas State University researchers came up with a solution. They mixed graphene oxide—graphene with extra oxygen atoms—with water and deposited layers on a surface at -25°C. This instantly froze each layer, and allowed the undisrupted construction of the aerogel, with ice as its support.

3D Printing aerogels containing graphene? This material gets some interesting properties. While it is quite hard to manufacture in a controlled fashion I believe it will open the way for compressible circuits.

Within five years, companies could begin in-orbit manufacturing and assembly of communications satellite reflectors or other large structures, according to Made in Space, the Silicon Valley startup that sent the first 3D printer to the International Space Station in 2014.

Miro Svetlik's insight:

3D printing in space is inevitable and should be one of our priorities as mankind if we want to settle the solar system. We at ContentWise are excited to see what technology will Made In Space create in order to build big structures in zero gravity. http://contentwise.info/printrod

What makes highly creative people different from the rest of us? In the 1960s, psychologist and creativity researcher Frank X. Barron set about finding out. Barron conducted a series of experiments on some of his generation’s most renowned thinkers in an attempt to isolate the unique spark of creative genius. In a historic study, Barron...

Miro Svetlik's insight:

Messiness of artistic people scientifically deciphered and the answer as we could of guess already is complexity. Many facets, many expressions, many experiences, keep iterating... and be a beautiful human

I would like to introduce our PrintRod, our portable - high volume - low resolution 3D Printer prototype. We believe that mass adoption of 3D printing is kept back by inability to print larger objects anywhere and with low energy footprint. Check it out at http://contentwise.info/printrod/ .

Kevin perfectly summarized what is the value of science and research. To me immediately came Peter Thiel's analogy of 0 to 1 (http://zerotoonebook.com). This is a perfect explanation why people do not get the value of research, it offers no tangible insight how it might impact not only economy but a mankind as such.

It costs nothing to click, respond and retweet. But what price do we pay in our relationships and our peace of mind?

Miro Svetlik's insight:

A thoughtful article about 'Attention Economic' and as well examination of our purpose in adjusting our focus to information feeds competing for our attention. Author touches as well on something I call fractal zoom or complexity vs detail paradigm. With focus, things become more detailed and complex every time we manage to get closer to them. Maybe we shall sometimes focus more to ourselves and things we do to our surroundings as to try to catch all news around us in fear not to miss anything.

I am happy there are scientists (Lanier) which do not think in an conventional 'Virtual Reality' constraints. One big truth we seem to oversee when dealing with virtual that it is 'virtual' and it does not have to necessarily imitate our worldly experiences. Through experiments like this we can maybe find a better more efficient way to control the events in Virtual Reality.

High concept PCs are a common sight at CES, but CyberPower's Fang Trinity is one heck of an interesting build. The company says it plans to launch the chassis inside three months, using standard, off-the-shelf components.

Miro Svetlik's insight:

It is quite a time I have seen a PC that would catch my eye. Well this concept has it all :) simplicity of common replaceable components, design which made me think of 'The Battlestar Galactica' and power enough to be current. Hopefully it will make it to the shelfs.

An odd, iridescent material that's puzzled physicists for decades turns out to be an exotic state of matter that could open a new path to quantum computers and other next-generation electronics.

Physicists at the University of Michigan have discovered or confirmed several properties of the compound samarium hexaboride that raise hopes for finding the silicon of the quantum era. They say their results also close the case of how to classify the material—a mystery that has been investigated since the late 1960s.

The researchers provide the first direct evidence that samarium hexaboride, abbreviated SmB6, is a topological insulator. Topological insulators are, to physicists, an exciting class of solids that conduct electricity like a metal across their surface, but block the flow of current like rubber through their interior. They behave in this two-faced way despite that their chemical composition is the same throughout.

The U-M scientists used a technique called torque magnetometry to observe tell-tale oscillations in the material's response to a magnetic field that reveal how electric current moves through it. Their technique also showed that the surface of samarium hexaboride holds rare Dirac electrons, particles with the potential to help researchers overcome one of the biggest hurdles in quantum computing.

These properties are particularly enticing to scientists because SmB6 is considered a strongly correlated material. Its electrons interact more closely with one another than most solids. This helps its interior maintain electricity-blocking behavior.

This deeper understanding of samarium hexaboride raises the possibility that engineers might one day route the flow of electric current in quantum computers like they do on silicon in conventional electronics, said Lu Li, assistant professor of physics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and a co-author of a paper on the findings published in Science.

New compounds like this are much needed to simplify the production or even make breakthrough for new kind of quantum circuits. If we harness their properties quantum computing will be again a step closer to the mainstream.

An incredible article about the myths & reality of AI threats. If the real AGI will ever be implemented there is a big chance it will have no interests as we imagine. These are our own projections based on anthropomorphic thinking. AGI will have a impact on our reality, however it will not step out as a divine presence like in the myths.

In the next five years, it will be too expensive to further miniaturize—but chip makers will innovate in different ways.

Miro Svetlik's insight:

Have we finally hit the top of Moore's law? I don't think so, we just have to look at different materials and concepts as a silicon. There is huge potential in Quantum and Bio computing ahead of us. Go explore!

Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that laser light can be used to manipulate a glass optical fiber tapered to a sharp point smaller than a speck of dust, in the middle of an optical fiber with a hollow core. ...

Miro Svetlik's insight:

This discovery can have a big impact not only on physics but on laser cutting and 3D printing.

3D printing has truly evolved in the past year, but did you know that some 3D printers can even recreate the complex shapes of origami? But, what if you wanted to unfold your 3D printed crane or lotus flower and refold it into something else? This is easy using paper, but more difficult using the hard plastic of 3D printing.

Research by Qian Zhao and colleagues, published in the journal Science Advances, details a new method involving shape memory polymers, a unique class of polymers that can be “programmed” to assume certain shapes. After the polymer is programmed, its shape can be temporarily altered by subsequent heating. However, upon cooling, the polymer will return to its programmed shape, a process known as recovery. In other words, the plastic “remembers” the shape it was originally programmed to achieve.

Although this is a useful ability in itself, what if we wanted to change the programmed shape after it is already programmed, like unfolding a crane origami and refolding it into a lotus flower? Here, the authors revealed their experiments with a cross-linked polycaprolactone polymer system. This polymer showed a large degree of plasticity, meaning that it could be programmed to “remember” one shape, and then reprogrammed to remember another. In addition, this material can show cumulative plasticity, the ability to retain some of the characteristics of previously-programmed shapes, even when its shape is later changed to something completely different!

The unprecedented flexibility is shown in their first experiment, where a flat, square-shaped film was programmed to assume the shape of an origami bird. When heated, the bird became “elastic”, meaning it could be deformed into various temporary shapes, such as a plane. Upon cooling, however, the polymer would return to the programmed bird shape. As describe above, this ability is not new. However, using a transesterification reaction catalyzed by a neutralized organic base, the authors were able to reprogram the recovered bird into a drastically different permanent structure – that of an origami sailboat. This boat, in turn, could be heated to create new temporary shapes, such as a windmill. Upon cooling, the shape then recovered to the sailboat shape.

In their next experiment, they programmed a flat film of polymer five consecutive times. During the first four deformations, the film was given different surface features by stretching and embossing. Each plastic deformation built on the previous one, creating a progressively more complicated pattern on the surface of the film. In the last stage, the film was programmed to roll into a tube so that the surface pattern lined the inside of the tube. Therefore, one could even add textures on surfaces that aren’t actually accessible in the final shape.

A team of physicists has proposed a way of teleporting energy over long distances. The technique, which is purely theoretical at this point, takes advantage of the strange quantum phenomenon of entanglement where two particles share the same existence. The researchers, who work out of Tohoku University in Japan, and led by Masahiro Hotta,describe their ...

Miro Svetlik's insight:

Again a step closer to the teleportation ;-). If we would manage to teleport energy as described here we can exploit sun or even our earth core for clean and practically limitless energy for our civilization.

We all talk about exponential future and why we have to keep our eyes glued on AI but I did not read an article yet so comprehensively written on this topic. I find it summarizes most threats to humanity and helps us partially understand what might come.

I remember when Microsoft announced some years ago their efforts to patent transparent touch screens with ability to let feel a texture of surface. I knew they were busy on something cool. They are still going the same way as is apparent from this productivity video. I hope they will be able to execute their vision.

Interleaving should be a very important part of learning process, specially because our cognitive process is not designed for monotone information processing. Variety of topics and playful teaching should be a norm not an exception in a modern school system.

Transhumanism is a “Western philosophy” - it’s roots can be traced to FM-2030 (born in Iran, but lived and taught in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami) and Max More (born in England, founded Extropy Institute in California, currently CEO of Alcor in Arizona). Transhumanism today is primarily identified with Humanity Plus, a nonprofit affiliated with two California groups - Singularity Institute and Foresight Institute, plus Utah’s Mormon Transhumanist Association.…

Miro Svetlik's insight:

Interesting observations on state of Western and Asian trans-humanism. We need to acknowledge trans-humanists not as a class but a natural step to evolution brought by the research and technology. Humans have tendency to improve their life by medicaments or drugs for ages. This need to be stronger, more efficient or just smarter can change with the help of technology to much more radical changes. Our technology have reached the level where we can alter basic building blocks and programs of life. East Asian society is probably more prepared for this next step than the western one. Hopefully we will recognize the importance of the fact that our society must open it's eyes and try to understand pragmatic trans-humanism as a possible next step in the evolution of human.

(Phys.org)—Topological quantum computing (TQC) is a newer type of quantum computing that uses 'braids' of particle tracks, rather than actual particles such as ions and electrons, as the qubits to implement computations. Using braids has one important advantage: it makes TQCs practically immune to ...

Miro Svetlik's insight:

New type of quantum computing using braiding anyons to implement logical gates. This is next step towards fault-tolerant quantum computing.

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